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I have bent out or broken a bunch of the Z man jig heads. I understand that my drag is too tight, but I like being able to crank a hook set, and need to find some stouter hooks so I don’t keep bending them out in the middle of a fight.

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I am always looking for smaller and thinner hooks and it seems like most every other Ned head out there has a thicker hook then the Zman ones. The Zman ones are notoriously brittle. The new-ish Owner Block Heads have pretty beefy hooks.

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I am always looking for smaller and thinner hooks and it seems like most every other Ned head out there has a thicker hook then the Zman ones. The Zman ones are notoriously brittle. The new-ish Owner Block Heads have pretty beefy hooks.

I’ve also had a hook just snap after a few fish catches, even with a very light drag.

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I think there are better techniques in those areas and I seldom expose a hook in the same

Yea I agree, a light Texas rig or shakey head would be better. When I was wanting to learn the Ned I only took neds to the lake, and fished them around weeds because the spots looked good and I didn’t have other baits.

Berkley half head jig hooks are beefier than the Z-man ones. Cheaper as well.

I don't want to heavy a hook. The beauty of the lighter wire hook is that when they get snagged you can pull on them until the hook straightens and save your bait. Bend the hook back with pliers and you are good to go.

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I had the same issue with the light wire z man jig heads a couple times too. I bent the hook on a couple big fish and lost them. The nedlockz jig head is way more durable and thicker so I’ve been using those instead with better success.

I fished a couple of private ponds and a local creek 6 times in the past two weeks. I used the same 1/5 oz. Z-Man jig head and two different colored TRDs on an ultra lite bait caster with 14 lb. braid with a 8 lb. mono leader. I caught about 50 to 60 bass and a mess of crappie and blue gills. The biggest bass was 4.5 lb. There were two between 3 and 4 lb. and the rest were mostly between 1 and 2 lb.

I stuck with this outfit because I wanted to see if the TRD was as indestructabe as I have read. I changed colors because it seemed one color wasn't producing during one trip.

Both TRDs are mangled but still usable. The jig head is perfectly fine minus a little paint from bouncing along the bottom in the creek. Many of the pond fish came to the boat wrapped in weeds sometimes doubling their actual weight. The hook never failed or deformed. It is still on the rod ready for the next trip.

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At Walmart I found some Arkie brand 1/16 oz mushroom head jigs - advertised as "finesse" jig heads. They have a 1/0 hook on them, which I know by true Ned standards is a little big - but it works ok for me.

I have bent out or broken a bunch of the Z man jig heads. I understand that my drag is too tight, but I like being able to crank a hook set, and need to find some stouter hooks so I don’t keep bending them out in the middle of a fight.

I tried a bunch of the commercial offerings. I didn’t like any of them so I bought the Midwest Finesse mold to make my own. What I finally settled on is a Grammy 1/0 hook. It is a fairly light wire but very strong. I use 6# fluorocarbon line and keep my drag loose enough so it slips if I set the hook too hard.

if you leave a TRD on the hook between trips it will weaken the hook with rust which can cause it to break on the hook set.